Has your email address met your brand?

emailI recently had a conversation about email. We were putting together a business card for them and they wanted the email to be info@xyz.com. When I told them we should consider something that says something and didn’t take the generic route I received the response “people know info, it’s not really much of a branding tool.”

Of course it’s a branding tool. Your brand doesn’t have borders, it should touch everything, including your email address. Your brand is all about who you are.

For example, if you want more information about how we can help change the way your church communicates don’t email info@holycowcreative.org email moo@holycowcreative.org do you see how that one minor difference creates some personality? I thought about making it change@ which would have also fit, but I wanted to have some fun with it…so I went with moo.

How about you? If I want to get in touch with your church who do I email? info@yourchurch.com or is it something that introduces me to who you are? If your email address hasn’t met your brand, it’s time to introduce them.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 1:08 pm and is filed under church marketing . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://hardlynormal.com Mark

    i completely agree if the email is to be used as a tool for brand recognition more than communication

    if it is just for communication the average person will remember “info”

    yes, “info” is boring, but it is common and i want to receive the inbound email. i also don’t plan on putting it on a tv spot or billboard. it is not a sales piece. years ago when radio was big so people would remember the number while driving 60mph it was important to have your phone number as a jingle. i don’t see that with email. moo@ works for you, but a cute email may not work in every situation.

    i did consider biteme@cowssuck.com – rather catchy don’t ya think :-)

  • http://www.chrismoncus.com/ Chris Moncus

    I agree with you completely. One addition to your thoughts though. Email address can be redirected so I set up info@ to be a redirect to the “personality” address. For instance, my company uses concierge@aventiamedia.com as its guest services to info type address. info@ is redirected to concierge@ in case someone just assumes it and tries it.

  • http://www.theplowblog.com Corey

    Hmmm, I have actually never thought of this. Very cool. Thanks for opening my eyes.

  • http://www.krisrevelle.com Kris

    simple. genius. thank you.

  • http://www.holycowcreative.org holycow

    Everything you do is your brand. It’s just like that pastor that says church and marketing should never be together…you’re already marketing the question is are you marketing with excellence or mediocrity. As Chris pointed out there’s no reason to use info@ … you’re right it is boring and unless your brand is boring, it doesn’t fit.

    Do like Chris said and create an info@ account, and forward that information to your main, branded, account.

    Your brand is more than a logo, a brand is all about your DNA and everything that makes you who you are. Including your email address.

  • Pingback: Your Brand Includes Your E-mail | Marketing Integrity

  • http://chrisglaser.wordpress.com/ C

    Wow–great call on that. I’m always trying to think about the brand, but I never thought of that. Thanks!

  • http://hardlynormal.com Mark

    so I gather from your comment that you drive a white minivan with black spots and you answer your phone with “mooo”. what! you don’t?

    question is are you marketing with excellence or mediocrity.

    you are 100% correct that branding is everything you are and do. a brand is an organizations DNA. that said, sometimes a cute email or a silly painted minivan may not fit an organizations brand and produce tangible results (or even be necessary).

    saying that an organizations marketing is mediocre because the decision was made to use “info” as an email address is ridicules.

    http://invisiblepeople.tv is 100% about the issues of homelessness and poverty. The personalty of the brand is created by real people sharing real stories. The Holy Cow brand is colorful and “cartoony” so a cute email like “moo” fits, but moo@ may not help get results. invisiblepeople.tv is not a product or a service, nor is it a nonprofit raising money – it’s people!

    invisiblepeople.tv is far from boring. i spent lots of time consciously developing a brand (you even helped) and i feel it is best to downplay all personality building ANYTHING except for the personalities themselves. invisiblepeople.tv is a vehicle that will hopefully help keep the issues of homelessness visible. the invisiblepeople.tv brand if you will is not about the site, or even me, it is about homeless people trying to survive!

    two key elements: awareness and communication. a cute email in the case of the issues of homelessness does not help the issue and could be a speed bump to communication.

    you are correct about the importance of branding, and excellence, but saying EVERY organization should have a “personality” driven email, and those that don’t have mediocre marketing is ignorant!
    :-)

  • http://www.holycowcreative.org holycow

    Let’s look at your example of a car.

    The car that I bought last year is indeed white, and it’s white on purpose. If I had more money located for the car purchase, I would have purchased a mini cooper as it fits my brand.

    How about PETA, what should they drive? Or invisiblepeople.tv, should they drive a flashy expensive car?

    Let’s bring this back to the church…if you’re a pastor and you drive around in a Bentley, guess what that says something and it does effect your brand. EVERYTHING YOU DO EFFECTS YOUR BRAND.

    Does using info@ mean all your marketing efforts are mediocre? No. But it is a mediocre (and I might even say lazy) decision. Clutching to info@ as your email is a typical ‘that’s the way it’s always been done’ response. There’s not a single good reason to use info@ as your main and public email address.